05/12/2026
by James Pacheco
Saturday was a day that had a bit of everything in Guanabara Bay, including four different race winners, a heartbreaking malfunction before the off, and a penalty that left one particular man pretty unhappy. If you missed a fantastic day’s racing, here’s a recap of what happened and the latest odds ahead of tomorrow’s action.
Joy For the Artemis SailGP Team, Despair For the Rio Crowd’s Darlings
The phrase ‘anything can happen in SailGP ‘ has been used a few times this week in the build-up to the ENEL Rio Sail Grand Prix. Although Race 1 didn’t produce an upset quite up there with the United States SailGP Team’s event win at the KPMG Sydney Sail Grand Prix at odds of 60.0, it certainly wasn’t one of the favorites taking the day’s opening race.
The Artemis SailGP Team was first past the post after being available at odds of 11.10, and if that doesn’t sound impressive enough, another way of looking at it is that they were the seventh biggest-priced of the 12 teams going into Fleet Race 1.
That said, only 11 actually started the race after home favorites, the Mubadala Brazil SailGP Team, had to pull out of Saturday’s opening race due to technical difficulties. Huge disappointment for their Olympic gold-winning driver Martine Grael, who secured that medal right here in Guanabara Bay back in the Rio 2016 Olympics, and huge disappointment for the team’s thousands of partying fans.
Remarkably, at the fourth time of asking, it was the first time this season that the BONDS Flying Roos SailGP Team didn’t win an event’s first race. But they did the next best thing, finishing second to pick up what could be a priceless nine points. The Americans carried their strong momentum from Sydney, finishing third.
Los Gallos SailGP Team and Red Bull Italy SailGP Team Take Wins in Races 2 and 3
The Black Foils SailGP Team’s Peter Burling was on commentary duty today and had warned of the importance of a good start here to the races here in Rio. Sounds like an obvious thing to say, but his point was that it could matter more here than normal.
Clearly, the Los Gallos were listening to him because their brilliant start to Race 2 gave them a big lead early on, and they never looked back.
A superb battle for second and third positions ended with the Swedes just about securing the runner-up spot at the expense of the Germany SailGP Team Presented by Deutsche Bank, who finished a good third.
Technical issues sorted, Mubadala Brazil was back for Race 3, much to the delight of the home crowd, but 10th place and a solitary point wasn’t the return they were looking for. However, it was later announced that they were awarded five points for each of the two races they missed.
Instead, it was the Red Bull Italy SailGP Team who secured a superb win in Race 3 with the ROCKWOOL Racing SailGP Team, the next team to cross the line after the Danes.
But while those two were finishing 1-2, Tom Slingsby was doing Tom Slingsby things just behind them to nick third place virtually on the finish line at the expense of DS Automobiles SailGP Team France, who failed to replicate their usual consistency throughout the day.
Four Races, Four Different Winners
When the Germany SailGP Team Presented by Deutsche Bank took Race 4, they became the fourth different race winner of the event, yet another reminder, as if any was needed, of the unpredictability of this Championship.
But while the Germans ended the day on a high, there was frustration for that man Slingsby, who was awarded a penalty late, late on in the race that saw the Aussies demoted from second to third, with Rockwool Racing the ones benefiting from that penalty.
Slingsby Just About Leads the Way in Tightly-Packed Top 5
Slingsby has sky-high standards because, despite venting his frustration at that penalty and the lost point, it’s his team who head into Sunday’s action at the top of the standings.
They’ll go into Race 5 on Sunday with 28 points to their name, with the Americans on 26 and Nathan Outerridge’s Artemis Team on 26.
The Germans have 25 and the Spanish 24.
The one team you would have expected to have read plenty of mentions of, but didn’t?
That would be the Emirates Great Britain SailGP Team.
They didn’t complete Race 1, finished sixth in Race 2, and didn’t pick up any points in Races 3 or 4, so it really was a day to forget. Dylan Fletcher and his crew are currently bottom among the 12 teams in action with just five points and will have to perform minor miracles if they’re to make Sunday’s final. A reminder that they’ve made all three finals so far this season.
All To play For On Sunday But…No Doubt About the Event Favorites
There’s very little to choose between the Top 5 as we’ve just seen, and the odds to go and win the event certainly reflect that.
The Germans are 7.09, the Spanish 6.95, the Swedes 5.97, and then it’s the Americans at 5.23. It certainly would be some story if Taylor Canfield led his team to back-to-back event wins, but that certainly can’t be discounted at this stage. And this time round, the bookies are showing them far more respect than they were ahead of that Sydney event.
But if the odds-compilers are correct, the ones they all have to beat are the BONDS Flying Roos.
Not only are they top of the standings after Race 4, but they’re also currently in second place in the Championship standings. And despite that late penalty in the day’s final race, there’s always that feeling out there in the water that Slingsby can pull a rabbit out of the hat when it matters most.
They’re the justified 3.41 favorites to win the Rio event and be spraying the champagne come Sunday evening
The Aussies are also just 1.16 to make that final, and also the 4.58 favorites to take Race 5.
Despite most things that could have gone wrong on Saturday going wrong on Saturday for Emirates GBR, they’re not being dismissed when it comes to fighting back with a win in Race 5 on Sunday. They’re 5.38 to win it, but doing enough to go and contest the final looks a little bit beyond even Fletcher, but it’s 37.59 if you fancy it.
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